The Music Stops – The Empty Chair

                          [Photo Source: Google online images – Musical Chairs]

(5 Nov 2011 -   The place where I once felt a sense of family and belonging, has sat empty for decades.  Time moved on for the others playing the Musical Game, while I waited and wasted my Life hoping and hurting for my "Turn".  dht)

The Empty Chair --

changes through the years –

through births and deaths –

to be filled with a different set

of family members.

The Waste –

Decades come and gone –

Thanksgivings, Christmases, Birthdays, Anniversaries –

when the chairs

of family members

gathered together sat empty.

All the years when there –

could have been –

should have been –

a Family.

The Music Stops –

and the chair occupants change

in a kaleidoscope

of ever changing sequence

of musical chairs –

while My chair sits empty.

 

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011] 

THE RAINBOW'S WAY

[Photo Source: My photos, my camera, my backyard The Rainbow's Way 3 NOV 2011)

(3 NOV 2011 – As sunset began its song and the rain eased for the last rays of sunlight, the sky was alight with the Double delight of a Rainbow.  The Rainbow's Way arched in the sky from North to South in a Double Blessing that anointed the Earth.  Too short the Life span – for as the sunlight faded – so the sky emptied and the sudden magic of the Rainbow in my backyard was Gone! 

BUT – not before I was quick with my digital camera and captured some photos and video footage so I can share them with you here – ENJOY!  The photos were taken in my backyard while I was facing East and the sun was setting in the West behind me  - the rain was a soft mist that sprinkled my nose and shoulders as I took these photos.  The Double Rainbow filled me with glee and thanksgiving – and I was so glad I was home and happened to see this fabulous Double rainbow in my own backyard!  dht-2011

Below is a Poem written by my Maternal Cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.  I wonder what her Rainbow looked like as she looked at it then later wrote these words to its Tribute.  Thank you Cousin Emily for sharing your words.)

Delight is as the flight —
Or in the Ratio of it,
As the Schools would say —
The Rainbow's way —
A Skein
Flung colored, after Rain,
Would suit as bright,
Except that flight
Were Aliment —

"If it would last"
I asked the East,
When that Bent Stripe
Struck up my childish
Firmament —
And I, for glee,
Took Rainbows, as the common way,
And empty Skies
The Eccentricity —

And so with Lives —
And so with Butterflies —
Seen magic — through the fright
That they will cheat the sight —
And Dower latitudes far on —
Some sudden morn —
Our portion — in the fashion —
Done —

[Poem #257 by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson,

poetess extraordinaire and my maternal Cousin]

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AT HOME – IN THE PAGES

                  















[Photo Source:  GOOGLE online images]

(3 NOV 2011 --How many times I've spent in the company of good companions and involved in some great storytelling -- all at my fingertips.  Now, I'm aware that there are electronic sources of stories in DVDs, video, movies, audio, and kindle type media.  Nevertheless, for myself, I prefer the printed words on the paper pages of a book or magazine or newsprint.  There I can so easily lose myself in that 'other world' -- whether in the waiting room at the dentist or standing in line at the DMV.  WHAT 'books' have you read lately that transported you for a time to another place – another space?  dht-2011)

I'm a happy adventurer

and Love to disappear into the nether land

of a well written story in a book –

a book with paper pages that I can turn

and enter with Welcome  -- 

as an honored visitor to a World Outside my own –

that springs to Life in the printed page –

with characters, plots, intrigue, pathos,

joy, laughter, heartache, heartwarming, and heartfelt cheer.

I'm home – in the Pages of a Book!

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr-2011]

HALLOWEEN -- hauntings and ghostlings

(This is a startling poem that evokes images of death, ghosts, murder, loneliness, hopelessness, and a mind full of specters that wander in the pathways and maze of a burdened brain.  A poem definitely for the Halloween season – and a reminder that death is the final chapter of birth.  SO I say – LIVE for the MOMENT, for it too will pass beyond the DOOR.  [dht-2011])

 [A haunting poem #670 by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, my maternal Cousin]

One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted —
One need not be a House —
The Brain has Corridors — surpassing
Material Place —

Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
External Ghost
Than its interior Confronting —
That Cooler Host.

Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
The Stones a’chase —
Than Unarmed, one’s a’self encounter —
In lonesome Place —

Ourself behind ourself, concealed —
Should startle most —
Assassin hid in our Apartment
Be Horror’s least.

The Body — borrows a Revolver —
He bolts the Door —
O’erlooking a superior spectre —

Or More —

***************

***************

SEE WITH YOUR HEART

              [Photo Source: Google online images – see photo for credit]

(28 OCT 2011 -- Whenever in doubt, I follow my Heart.  It knows the way that is true -- where my Eyes know only Blue.  JUST A FEW NOTES -- about how my Eyes have played me false, but my Heart has always been true! 

What do you see with your EYES?   With your Heart?   Which do you follow -- today?  dht-2011)

  

My Eyes are the portals where Life's purview -- displays in wonder.

Where Eyes often guide one astray – the Heart will always lead you Home.

What disappoints the Eye – the Heart harkens with gladness.

When the Eye deceives – close your eyes and See with your Heart.

My Heart sees the beauty and Love within – while the Eyes see only the masks.
[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

WHERE LOVE GROWS

[Photo Source:   Google online images – Norman Rockwell]

(26 OCT 2011 -- The person within awaits that special someone – that special moment – when the seeds of LOVE will once again find fertile ground and grow.  ~dht-2011)

The first memories of feeling LOVED that I felt, where at age five, when I lived with my maternal grandparents for a year or so.

There were so many reflections of Love in their eyes and their actions.  The feelings and memories have lasted me a Lifetime.  Always, I have sought that Love in other eyes through the years – with a hunger that has never been sated.

A sense of not being worthy of Love is ever present.  I have tried to prove I'm worthy of Loving by serving others, giving of myself to the point of privation, subordinating my Dreams to the dreams of others, and putting my own hurt aside to help others.

Somewhere the seeds of LOVE await fertile ground to spring forth again and grow – nurtured by those who want to really get to know the person within.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

Nature's Caring Arms

                      [Photo Source:  My camera, my photos, my wildlife neighborhood.]

(25 OCT 2011 - There is no tonic or elixir of Life that can compare to the balm of Nature upon the human Spirit. dht-2011)

The balm of Nature surrounds me –

And I'm content.

 

Birds in the sky follow air currents –

And I'm content.

 

Creatures in the bush skitter about –

And I'm content.

 

Nearby water ripples over shimmering stones –

cascading in a curtain of liquid silver –

And I'm content.

 

Wild grasses waft to a gentle breeze –

combed to a tamed sweet order –

And I'm content.

 

Clouds shelter from on high –

holding Mother Earth in embrace –

And I'm content.

 

In Nature's Caring Arms –

slumber beckons – while blissful Dreams fill my senses –

And I'm content.

 

My troubled thoughts float away –

on the wings of the day –

And I'm content.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011]

[Photo Source:  My camera, my photos, my wildlife neighborhood.]